Under perfect sunny weather, the Indonesian Reedy International Race 2002 was held at the Jakarta International Twin Circuit. This meeting attracted drivers from Australia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, and Singapore. All of the overseas participants were well known in the region and are among the best racers in their home countries.

Surikarn, as expected, dominated the whole event (he TQ'd and won all finals except the third finals in which he did not participate) in both handout Stock class and Open Modified class with his Reedy-powered TRF414M2 World Replica. Local hero, Teddy Syach, an experienced 1:8 scale GP racer having recently procured sponsorship by Team X-Ray, finished an impressive 2nd position in both classes. Andrew Abbot, from Australia, finished a strong third position with his Reedy-powered TC3 in the Modified class, while Raywat, from Thailand, finished third with his TC3 in the Stock class.

Stock

The event started with the handout Reedy Stock Class on Saturday, August 24. After one controlled practice, three qualifying rounds, and three finals, Surikarn TQ'd and won the Stock class. Teddy Syach, the only Indonesian being fully sponsored by an R/C car manufacturer, was very impressive. Raywat Petluck (a regular Tamiya Asia Cup winner in several classes in the past four years), from Thailand, also showed his natural talent with his TC3 by finishing third overall in the Stock class. Ong Chee Yong, from Malaysia, Wu Chak Ming, and Andrew Abbot were also not too far behind the top three finishers.

Modified

The warmer air temperature (reaching 35 degrees C, 57 degrees humidity, track surface temperature 55 degrees C) on Sunday took a victim as Ray Wood, the popular R/C video maker from Australia, was completely exhausted by the end of the day.

Surikarn led all the way from start to finish, but did not participate the third last run as he already secured the overall first position. Once again, Teddy Syach showed what he's capable of by putting some impressive drives especially during the third final where he was racing wheel to wheel with Andrew Abbot. Andy Cooke (Corally) and Raywat (TC3) were also running quite strong. But it was a day to forget for Danny Izwahyudi, the Indonesia National Champion, as he suffered some teething problems from his body shell, batteries, etc. Several drivers also experienced some serious radio glitches.

Sorex 36R tires were the popular choice during the whole event in both stock and modified classes. Only a few drivers were not running Sorex tires. Reedy products were the overwhelming favorites of the top ten modified finishers.

Ray Wood will produce the video for this event, while Dave Smith will do the race coverage in the next issue of Racing Lines magazine, from Australia.